How to set up an automated backup for Sage and MYOB accounting data to an external drive

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to set up an automated backup for Sage and MYOB accounting data to an external drive. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Automating your Sage and MYOB backups helps protect your financial data against hardware failure, accidental deletion, and ransomware attacks. By scheduling regular backups to an external drive, you can maintain a current copy of your accounting records without relying on manual intervention.

Before you begin

Exact menu paths vary by Sage and MYOB product version. If the steps below do not match your software, consult your product documentation or contact support.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Connect your external drive to your computer.
2. Open your accounting software (Sage or MYOB).
3. Navigate to the backup utility within the software.
4. Select your external drive as the destination.
5. Set a daily or weekly schedule for automatic backups.

Detailed Instructions

For Sage Accounting

1. Launch Sage and open your company file.
2. Go to File > Backup (menu names may vary by version).
3. Select the option to back up to an external drive.
4. Browse to your external drive (e.g., D:\Sage Backups) and select it as the destination.
5. Enable automatic or scheduled backups.
6. Choose your preferred frequency (daily is recommended) and time.
7. Click Save or Finish to activate the schedule.

For MYOB AccountRight

1. Open MYOB AccountRight and open your company file.
2. Go to File > Backup.
3. Choose Backup to a local drive.
4. Select your external drive from the list of available locations.
5. Note: MYOB AccountRight does not include a native recurring scheduler in all versions. For true automation, use Windows Task Scheduler to launch the backup, or consult MYOB documentation for version-specific scheduling options.
6. Confirm the settings and click Finish.

Important recommendations

• Regularly test that you can restore from a backup to confirm the process works.
• Consider encrypting the external drive because it contains sensitive financial data.
• For ransomware protection, keep more than one backup copy and store at least one copy offsite (for example, rotate external drives between the office and a secure location).
• Do not disconnect the external drive while a backup is in progress, as this may corrupt the backup file.

Troubleshooting

External drive not detected

• Ensure the drive is securely plugged into a USB port.
• Check File Explorer to see if the drive letter is assigned.
• Try a different USB port or cable.

Backup fails with "Permission Denied"

• Close Sage or MYOB completely and try again.
• Ensure you are logged in as an administrator on the computer.
• Check that the external drive is not set to read-only.

Scheduled backup did not run

• Verify the computer was powered on at the scheduled time.
• Ensure the external drive was connected before the schedule started.
• Check the backup logs within Sage or MYOB for error codes.

For more information on general external drive backups, see our guide How to backup photos to external drive.

If you continue to experience issues with your accounting backups, Open a Ticket with our Brisbane support team.

Still Having Issues?